Oh my gosh. my head hurts and its not even lunchtime yet! And now it's time for the blog post. As much as I enjoy all the incredible information that is given in these professional development days, I struggle with the shortage of time to between ideas and tasks. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" rings loud in my ears as I have to drop what I was doing and flip onto something else. I am having flash backs to university days when i worked on the belief that 1 hour in the lecture was two hours in the library - I have a funny feeling I may have said that in an earlier session.... and if I did well so be it...I now have 20 hours to find so I can get my head around all the information given today. I am trying hard to work out how to access all the resources already made and created by the thousands of teachers in our country - I would love the ministry to have lesson plans and activities linked to the AO's so I could spend less time creating stuff. Now I am feeling that someone is going to come forward and say - here are the links - they have been here for years! Now it is confession time - I have used the ARB's but find them, at times, out of date and not at all useful. Eako drives me nuts - I think the idea is great but as a teacher I find it annoying and time consuming, thats confession 1. Confession two - we were shown the link to Spring in to maths - a very useful site I think after the brief look I had at it - I have never seen or heard of it before, which as an experienced teacher and lead in maths, scares me. I never thought I was a teacher with my head in the sand but am now feeling that I most certainly am. Or is it that so much information is thrown at us we miss the important or most useful sites and concepts? Then my mind goes to the fact that everyone is different, what works for one, won't work for another. It has to at some stage become simpler! I spoke to a teacher recently, who is in their 4 year of teaching, and asked her if she uses base ten blocks. Her response was "I use to have them in my class but don't know." I asked why and she responded that she had no idea how to use them. 'Lets put a pin in that and pivot" we have five minutes left and I am thinking this blog post isn't really what I should be doing!
I have had a mixed week this week in my class, I am struggling with fine tuning the planning, I feel like I am juggling a hundred ideas and none of them are sticking or working together - the need is to simplify and know I have got it. I spend time creating lots of thing but they never seem to get used to the depth they deserve. And now I have duty ........
Kia ora Libby,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your honest and thoughtful blog post. It’s clear you're juggling a lot, and I really appreciate how openly you're sharing your challenges. I’m glad to hear you’re finding value in the MPI resources, even though the pace can feel a bit overwhelming at times. Please focus on what’s most relevant for your class and team, and I hope the next three weeks give you the space to implement some of the pieces that feel most useful.
I also hear your frustration with the huge number of resources available and the need for clearer guidance from the Ministry. It’s so important to take things step by step, especially when there’s so much to manage. The conversation you had with the other teacher really shows how your expertise can help others improve their practice and see the value in using familiar tools effectively - sometimes it’s not about finding new resources, but about making the most of what we already know and have.
Please remember that you’re doing amazing mahi, and your students are lucky to have such a thoughtful and dedicated teacher!
Nga mihi
Elena